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Ex-Daily News columnist to run Phila.'s green efforts

Mayor Nutter yesterday appointed former Philadelphia Daily News columnist and urban affairs expert Mark Alan Hughes as the city's first sustainability director, fulfilling a key campaign pledge.

Mayor Nutter yesterday appointed former Philadelphia Daily News columnist and urban affairs expert Mark Alan Hughes as the city's first sustainability director, fulfilling a key campaign pledge.

Hughes is charged with leading the city's environmental initiatives, which include expanded recycling, a 10 percent cut in the city government's energy consumption, and creation of specific environmental goals in all city departments, Nutter said yesterday.

"Sustainability is not a fringe issue. It is central to everything we do," he said at a news conference at which he announced the appointment. The event was held in the courtyard of the Friends Center, which is in the midst of a comprehensive renovation designed to make it one of the most environmentally friendly buildings in the nation.

Hughes, who will be paid $150,000, set a high bar for himself, saying the city's goal should be to take sustainability "further and faster" than has been done anywhere else.

Although Hughes helped the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources develop a strategic economic development plan driven by sustainability investments, he is not an environmental expert by training.

Rather, his career has been largely dedicated to urban economic policy and city planning.

Nutter said that Hughes was nonetheless the best choice for the position and that the city had conducted a national search before settling on Hughes.

He will report directly to the mayor and chief of staff Clarence Armbrister, Nutter said.